FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has determined a Webster County deputy was legally justified in the Aug. 4 fatal shooting of a woman near Fort Dodge. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation announced Thursday that the attorney general’s office cleared deputy Brett Knippel in the shooting of 39-year-old Melissa Halda, of Fort Dodge.

The shooting happened the evening of Aug. 4 when Webster County and Fort Dodge officers were called to a home and told a woman was armed with two knives and was suicidal. The officers found Halda, who threatened the officers with the knives and moved toward them. Knippel fired five times, striking Halda with four bullets and killing her.